


All You Need's a Friend

by HSavinien



Category: due South
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-02
Updated: 2011-06-02
Packaged: 2017-11-27 17:00:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/664340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HSavinien/pseuds/HSavinien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Worn down by strangers; all you need is a friend.  Small towns can be hard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All You Need's a Friend

**Author's Note:**

> Written for ds_snippets Tag Amnesty Event #3.

Benton closed the door and toed off his boots with two dull thuds, leaving them on the mat to dry.  He moved automatically through the indoor chores, lighting the stove and putting a kettle on to boil before stripping down.  The dirty clothing he left in a heap; neatness hardly mattered with clothes stiff with the dirt and sweat of a pursuit.  He washed quickly in the still-chilly water from the basin and pulled on a clean pair of long-johns, absently stretching his sore shoulder.  Benton made his tea, sat, and let his head drop.

Aylesbridge was a perfectly adequate posting, a small outpost that served a town of 944 and a territory of over 1000 square kilometres.  The sergeant looked at him bemusedly whenever he entered the office, the cleaning staff (seventeen-year-old Shareen) pouted at him, and Mrs. Bekker, who ran the only diner, hadn’t served him since he’d arrested her cousin’s nephew for trafficking drugs.  This time it had been the aftermath of a sexual assault case, made more complicated by the survivor’s extreme reticence in revealing that her attacker had been her ex-girlfriend.

Benton rubbed his eyes and reached unseeingly for the breadbox.  The loaf should still be fairly fresh and pemmican, while amazing in its properties, was a rather tedious diet.  He tore off a piece absently and ate, the sound of his jaw working almost unbearably abrupt. 

A sharp bark from outdoors jerked his head up so sharply his neck cracked. 

Benton’s chair screeched on the floor and he had the door open for Diefenbaker three strides later.  Dief jumped up on him to dirty his clean clothes with damp paws and breathe dead mouse in his face and Benton felt his face stretch into a real smile for the first time in a week.


End file.
